trayvon martin and the arrest of the man accused of shooting him. the president of the naacp, ben jealous, will join us this morning. candidates running to toys r us after a romney aide said this on our show yesterday. >> i think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. everything changes. it's almost like an etch-a-sketch. you kind of shake it up and we start all over again. >> later they say no, nothing like an etch-a-sketch. can that etch-a-sketch mess be cleaned up this morning? we'll see. i've done this, actually. not fallen into a lake as she did, but other things that are not so great. it is thursday, march 22nd. "starting point" begins right now. yes, that's mariah carey. my play list this morning,

that's "fantasy," by the way, is all long islanders who have contributed to the great cultural contributions of our nation. we're celebrating long island this morning, everybody. our panelists this morning, washington correspondent for the new yorker, nice to have you. where about? what town? john fugal is with us, asked the question of the day on this show yesterday. we'll talk about that straight ahead. >> i'm representing stony brook as well. >> that's right by me and will cain. >> thank gadness i'm here. >> helping it out. let's get to our "starting point" this morning. the standoff we've been watching for days is now over. cnn affiliate in france says the terror suspect is now dead. police stormed the apartment after 30 hours. that included a shootout and several explosions. the suspect is named mohammed merah, wanted in the killing rampage that left three jewish children, a rabbi and three french paratroopers dead.

fran townsend joins us live by phone. fran, there was so many sort of interesting elements out of this. i was surprised how quickly they were able to get information about this suspect. he was the one who said he was aligned with al qaeda. he was the one who, we're told, admitted to the shootings. what do you make of not just the ending, but the beginning of this standoff? >> reporter: well, soledad, look, this is exactly the sort of slone wolf scenario we've heard about, from peter king in new york that held hearings about. this is the very thing we've been concerned about here in the united states. you've got an individual. you realize in retro expect now, looking back, he travelled to afghanistan. we don't know. there are many questions that remain unanswered. who did he meet with there? what did he do? was he trained? was he radicalized during that trip? he obviously had contact with french forces in afghanistan, who made the decision to return

him. if they notified their internal intelligence and security services in france they were aware of this, their travels to afghanistan? we don't know. we've also suffered in the united states with the lack of information sharing between agencies. so this very much sounds like the sort of individual we worry about in the united states. >> i know there was tremendous interest, fran, and i think the reason this standoff went on for so long is they really wanted to get him alive. that they thought there was information to gather from him, if he were alive, as opposed to how it has now ended with this suspect dead. >> reporter: that's right. in a barricade situation, which is what this was, the longer you wait, the better the likelihood of that. you also run the risk he may have taken his own life over that time. in the end, this concluded he

was the only one who was killed or hurt in the barricade situation is a success story actually. yes, you would have preferred to get him alive and get that information. the fact that nobody else was hurt and no security forces were hurt or innocent civilians is to the credit of the french service. >> i'm getting word that there were, in fact, three officers who were injured over that 30-hour standoff and they are now the -- the french interior minister is confirming that the suspect is now dead. we were working to get that confirmation. where does this investigation go now, fran? >> reporter: there's no question, they'll now look at who and what were his other contacts in france, can they help identify other individuals who may have been radicalized? they'll look at the mosque he was attending. they'll see if there's a radical group involved here. was there a pipeline of others who left france and have gone to afghanistan? there will be a lot of information exchanged among

allied services, the cia and france. probably back to those who had contact with him in afghanistan and see what they can learn about at that end, is there a pipeline. so, there's a lot of sort of lessons learned and information to be gleaned from his travel and his contacts yet. >> which is what they'll be looking into. fran townsend joining us this morning. we appreciate you joining us by phone. all right. a return to the campaign trail now where that iconic etch-a-sketch toy is shaping up the gop race. it began right here. literally right there yesterday morning when long-time romney adviser eric fehrnstrom was sort of doing the victory lap. romney had a win the night before. and he was asked whether forced too far to the right by his opponents when it went to a national campaign, ultimately hurting him in november. that was the question that john asked. here was the answer. >> i think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign. everything changes.

it's almost like an etch-a-sketch. you can kind of shake it up and we start all over again. >> well, from there, literally, from right there, etch-a-sketch went absolutely everywhere, on every single newscast. take a look. >> it was an unusual day on the campaign trail. mitt romney and his campaign had wanted to talk about his victory in the illinois primary, but then the debate over this iconic children's toy, the etch-a-sketch, threatened to erase all that. >> you have to stand for something that lasts longer than this. people aren't stupid. >> he said you just turn it over and shake it and then you start all over. >> if i were elected and congress were to pass the dream act, would i veto it? the answer is yes. >> planned parenthood, going to get rid of that. >> we begin with our panelists on this etch-a-sketch. it really should be a big conversation about a great night and it changed. will is checking his watch.

>> two hours left in this show? it will be done by 10:00 am eastern. i love john. it's a good question. it's much ado about nothing. this is a twitter-fueled political granular story that most of the people watching at home rightfully are like, what, what? he said what about an etch-a-sketch? >> social conservatives may disagree with you. >> i have $5 on this. >> let's bet 10 grand. >> five? you really feel strongly, don't you? >> i'm cheap and i have four kids i have to send to college. that's why. john mccain's 2008 presidential campaign adviser and contributor to "the daily beast" and author of a new article. an open letter that offers advice to romney's advisers. you heard a little bit of the exchange. after the exchange there was a clarification from eric fehrnstrom. let's play a little bit of that

clarification. >> organizationally, a general election campaign takes on a different profile. the issues i'm running on will be exactly the same. >> my apologies. that was actually, obviously, governor romney doing his own clarification, which came after eric's clarification. what do you make of this? will cain just said this is going to last another couple of hours and then it's done. >> i disagree. i think it's going to last the whole campaign. one, the problem is that every time romney has a big win, they step on their message. two, there's nothing more powerful than using a campaign's own words against them. three, it's the perfect metaphor. four, it immediately reminded me yesterday when i heard that of the time in 2004 when i heard the words i actually voted for it before i voted against it. this is problematic. it has lasting damage. >> it will stick. let me read to you the clarification. this is what eric fehrnstrom said after all this hoopla about

the etch-a-sketch. he says i was talking about the race. as we move from the primary to the general election, the campaign changes. it's a different race with different candidates and a focus on different issues. do you think that's true and, in fact, that clarification is accurate? >> well, again, the problem is in politics if you're explaining, you're losing. and, again, it's the perfect metaphor for the vulnerabilities and weaknesses romney has on a day when it should have been one of his greatest days of the campaign. they killed the news again with an incident that i believe -- listen, i'm an ad guy. i can think of a perfect ad to do with this etch-a-sketch piece. i guarantee you that the obama campaign is already cooking up the ads. >> will cain is strongly -- i can tell how he is physically writhing in his chair, mark, he has to get in on this. >> i am capable of being wrong. i'm wrong often, but what i'm curious about is i guess if i'm

wrong it's because i'm giving the voting public too much credit, mark. i'm not in the romney camp. i actually buy eric fehrnstrom's answer. he was talking about the campaign being different from a general election to a primary. if the public can see through this, this is being spun by his adversaries. >> let's go back and replay the question and the answer, the actual question. mark, i'll have you jump in and answer it. let's play that, guys. >> any time. >> we don't have it. >> i'll act it out. >> but the question was, as john said, you asked the question. you repeat it. >> senator cain had been referenced, i pointed out that senator mccain was more moderate than the gentlemen he now faces. from santorum and gingrich, is it possible that he would tax so far to the right that it would make him difficult to reach the

voters. >> and the answer was the etch-a-sketch remark. answer, mark, if you can, will's question. >> ultimately, it may not be fatal. it's a big hurdle they've thrown themselves when it should have been on offense, should have been celebrating a victory. it puts a spotlight on the weakness romney has, which is that people think he shifts positions. it was an error on a day they should have been on offense. i wrote a column saying about the romney campaign, saying that they get a lot of criticism, a lot of it unfair, but this one, i think, is problematic. but all that said, i think he'll get the convention, give his speech, an s on his chest and he'll get a cape and ultimately could be a strong nominee for the party. >> in the "daily beast" column you wrote you said, life was hard in the presidential microwave during the last three

cycles but i can't imagine what it's like now with the carnivorous tentacles of social media at every turn, no matter which way you turn. and the rate of both cash and people must be enormous. this race is being dragged out, which could be linked to the fact that people won't get out of the race, which is linked to the facts that super pacs are giving people money who could get out of the race -- >> it's a human microwave. it was bad before. it's impossible now. incidents like yesterday get magnified and blown -- really blown up, just like we're talking about it today. it's just very, very difficult. i have a lot of sympathy for what they're going through. it's been a very tough campaign. at the end of the day, they built a campaign to last. they should get credit for overcoming a lot of hurdles. as i said in the column, this is a candidate who overcame possibly the greatest vulnerability, which was his position on health care. i compared that to -- it would

have been like obama being for iraq and winning that primary. at end of the day, you have to salute the campaign for hanging in there, going through very tough days and months and ultimately getting to the place where they are today. >> appreciate you talking to us. >> okay, thanks. kick it hard. >> i'm not sure what that means, but i will, sir. thank you. let's get right to the chairwoman of the tea party express and grass roots coalition. i was told to kick it hard, amy. i'm not sure what that means. so i'll welcome you and thanks for talking to us. >> it's my pleasure. >> talk with us about this etch-a-sketch. >> i disagree with will. it's not going to go away because his opponents will keep it front and center. you saw speaker gingrich holding the etch-a-sketch. it's kind of comical that now this primary process has come to what it has. now we're talking about children's toys. you know, the bottom line is, we

need to flush all of this out now. because that's what the primary process is for. the tea party movement wants the candidate most aligned with the principles of the tea party movement. at the end of the day, these people are educated on the issues. while we're talking about social media, not only is it fueling stuff like this, but social media has also, and the internet has also allowed people to go back and do research on these candidates and their records. they don't make decisions based the talking points they're given at a podium. >> governor romney seemed to be getting some traction on the tea party. you looked at the exit polls out of illinois. he won tea party. he won conservatives. it was sort of tone of the thins we were discussing in the wake of the victory there. if the vote were held again in illinois, would you see some of

that disappear? >> no, i'm not saying that. i think at the end of the day, people are making educated decisions. but soledad, one thing we've learned since the last election, especially with this movement, is that four or five years ago, people used the term republican and conservative interchangeably. what we've learned is that just because you're republican doesn't mean you're a conservative. people across the country want a fiscal conservative. that's what matters to them. that's why we want these candidates to stay focused on the economy and fiscal issues of jobs, jobs, jobs, getting the gas prices down. that's affecting every person out there. they need to get off the social issues and focus on what's important to americans and that's what we want them to do. >> amy kremer, thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. million hoodie march, demanding justice for trayvon martin and also the arrest of the man accused of shooting him.

have you seen this video online of the apache chopper buzzing a base and then it makes -- look at that -- a hard landing and -- into the snow and goes back up again, narrowly missing soldiers on the ground. it was crazy. we'll look at that and see if it was a stunt that actually just went wrong. plus our "get real" this morning. remember that woman who was texting and walking and ended up in a fountain? another woman, walking and texting. bad thing happened to her. she's okay. i actually have walked and texted and it ended up badly as well. we'll leave you with ryan's play list. "the sweetest thing." we're back after this. today, we stand against the tyranny of meager travel cards. battle speech right? may i? capital one is issuing a venture double miles challenge. show us how much you spent last year and we'll give you 2 miles

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on the sanford police chief, bill lee, after trayvon martin was killed by a neighborhood watchman. they voted 3-2 that they had no confidence in lee, who has been on the job for less than a year. at the same time, national anger over the shooting is growing. yesterday afternoon in sanford, the naacp held a forum for residents to complain about alleged abuse by the sanford police department. last night in new york city, trayvon's parents joined the million hoodie march and demanded that the shooter, george zimmerman, be arrested. >> trayvon martin did matter. i just want new york to know that we're not going to stop until we get justice. >> our son was not commit iting any crime. our son is your son. you've got to stand up for justice and do what's right. >> later today, the reverend al sharpton is going to lead a rally in the orlando suburb where martin was killed.

a civil rights investigation is now under way at the u.s. justice department. ben jealous is the president and ceo of the naacp. also, norton bonaparte jr. is a city commissioner. what does a no confidence vote mean? >> certainly an expression of the city commission's feelings in terms of how they feel about the chief. let me also start by saying this is a tragedy. we regret what's happened. on behalf of the city, we want to express our condolences and simp sympathies to the family of trayvon martin. also i learned today that the reverend sharpton's mother's passing. express his con do express my condolences to him as well. >> oh, i did not know that. so this vote lead to you firing

the police chief. are you going to do that? >> i would like an independent review, did the sanford police something they should have done or not do something they should have done? >> mr. jealous, would you like to see the police chief fired? >> yeah. you know, he needs to go right now. the reality is that it has been a month since trayvon was killed. and for thousands upon thousands of parents in this community, they simply don't feel like their children will be safe with the leadership of this chief. and, you know, i realize he has only been on board for a short time, but the reality is that when the buck stops with you, it is possible for you to make a mistake so big that that one big mistake is sufficient for you to go. >> seems like the position, ben, of the police department circles around this stand your ground law, which makes self defense sort of a good enough reason to

shoot and kill someone, according to, some have said, this particular law. that seems to be what the police department is sort of relying n on. where do you stand on that? >> it's a gross misinterpretation of the law. any common sense interpretation of that law, you read it, it's very short. it's in plain english. what it suggests is that, look, if you're stalked, if you're attacked, somebody pulls out a gun and tries to kill you, you have a right to use equal and opposite force. trayvon martin is a person who was stalked, attacked and threatened and ultimately killed with a gun. and all this law says is that he could have defended him. this law does not say you can go hunting for little boys. trayvon martin was not the first black boy that this -- you know, mr. zimmerman had followed throughout the neighborhood and confronted. it does not say you can go hunting for little boys and then kill one of them and claim you got scared while you were hunting him down and that's why you shot him. i mean, it is -- the fact that

this city has tolerated this chief so misinterpreting this law is just deeply disturbing. and that's why people don't feel safe. the reality is, the law is there for people like trayvon, not lick mr. zimmerman. >> a lot of this case, as you both know, going to the department of justice civil rights division, a lot of this case is going to hinge on the 911 tape that we know, the conversation between zimmerman and 911 dispatcher. i want to play a little bit. everyone is focused on whether or not there was a curse and a racial slur about two minutes and 20 seconds into this conversation with the dispatcher. i want to play it for you first and then the enhanced version so people can hear it. first version. >> the entrance of the neighborhood. >> which entrance is that that he's heading toward? >> the back entrance.

[ bleep ]. >> so you heard that there. we had to bleep out the curse. what everybody is focused on are those two words. mr. bonaparte, what do you think was said? do you think there was a curse and a racial slur said under the breath of mr. zimmerman? what do you hear? >> when i heard the tapes -- when i heard the tapes, i did not hear a racial slur. i heard inappropriate language and certainly language that your station had to bleep, but i did not hear a racial slur. >> mr. jealous, did you hear a racial slur? >> i certainly heard the word coons. i don't think that's the issue here. the issue is not whether or not mr. zimmerman is racist. the issue here is how does this department respond when a young, black man has been killed? do they take it as seriously as they would with anybody else? and the reality is that we've heard stories with regards to this department, case after case, where black men have been killed or attacked. and people have walked free,

even though those black men were not armed, even though in the case of the one who was attacked, he was simply sucker punched, a homeless man. what was interesting is that in each of these incidents, 2005, 2010, 2012, the people who walked free had a social or professional connection to this department. mr. zimmerman, as much as they're trying to disown him now, called this department 46 times in 56 days. i was speaking to a local person here in the community that does a lot of work with the city and with this department. and they said, look, they loved him. the reality is that a lot of people saw this guy as sort of exactly the sort of vigilant neighbor that we would like to have when, really, he was acting in ways that were completely dangerous, not responsible. and, frankly, anyone who calls the cops 46 times in 56 days, i think there's sufficient reason for the cops to wonder if he might be a bit off.

>> let me leave the final question with mr. bonaparte. you heard ben jealous talk about community members say they felt in some ways being focused on by the police department. have you heard those same complaints and what will you do about it in your town? >> what i have heard is that mr. zimmerman was vigilant in terms of calling in, in his neighborhood. have not heard complaints from the residents saying they felt he was calling too much. the bottom line is that we all want justice. we've turned it over to the state attorney's office. we've asked the united states department of justice to come in, to review the matter and the actions of the police department as well as the shooting. we want justice. >> mr. bonaparte, mr. jealous, thank you for talking with us this morning. we appreciate your time. >> thank you so much. >> you bet. >> thank you. president obama is launching an energy blitz with gas prices rising higher and higher every day. a key republican on oil and gas front will respond to that,

straight ahead this morning. and a pitfall that could be a lesson to everyone. don't walk and text. how many times do we have to say that, people? that woman did it, falls right into that lake. got details of what happened to her, up next. we're back in a moment. muddling through allergies. try zyrtec® for powerful allergy relief. and zyrtec® is different than claritin® because it starts working faster on the first day you take it. zyrtec®. love the air. on the first day you take it. fore! no matter what small business you are in, managing expenses seems to... get in the way. not anymore. ink, the small business card from chase introduces jot

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we're following breaking news this morning. just ahead, more details about that two-day standoff that has now come to a violent end in france. the gunman is dead. two police officers injured. the very latest, coming up next. president obama is announcing an energy blitz with gas prices rising higher and higher every day. republicans are saying it's too little, too late. we'll talk to representative doc hastings, a key republican on the oil and gas front. and hall of fame quarterback

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welcome back, everybody. breaking news to get to. the standoff is over. france is now confirming for us that a terror suspect is dead. we're also learning some new details about exactly what happened in that really action-filled hour before he was killed. france's interior minister telling the media that the suspect, mohammed merah, emerge friday a bathroom and launched a barrage of gunfire from the apartment where he had been holed up for 30-plus hours. he was found dead outside. much more will be coming up from toulouse, france, still ahead. president obama heads on a to two-day trip through battleground states. key issue in his campaign and the campaign in general. the president wants the u.s. to

embrace a broad strategy to reduce dependency on foreign oil. listen. >> we have approved dozens of new oil and gas pipelines and we've announced our support for more. we're drilling all over the place. that's one of the reasons we've been able to reduce our dependence on foreign oil every year since i took office. >> in january, you'll remember, the president rejected the full 1,661 mile, 7.6 billion dlar pipeline that would run to the gulf coast, saying they needed more time to examine the proposal. chairman of the national resources committee joins us now. it's nice to see you, sir. what do you think of the president's expedition to the southern part of the pipeline? >> first of all, i'm very pleased that the president has acknowledged we need more

american energy. unfortunately, his policies have been contrary to what he has been saying. i mean -- this has been going on since he was first inaugurated. one of the first alcohol action at least his administration has done is to cancel leases in the intermountain west. when the president was elected, there was no moratorium at all on the outer continental shelf. of course, he imposed that on. he is saying the right thing but, frankly, his actions are just the opposite of what he is saying. >> one of the things that he has said, as you well know, is that the pipeline was rejected initially because there was not enough time to review the project. and jay carney said this. >> the fact is that because republicans have decided to play politics with keystone, their action essentially forced the administration to deny the permit process because they

insisted on a timeframe within which it was impossible to appropriately approve the pipeline. >> what do you think of that? republicans played politics and they forced the administration. >> this has been in place for some time. it's been well known that there is oil shale in canada and it's been well known the place to get it refined and to markets is in the united states. this has been pending for some time. it could have been done much, much more quickly. to put that into play, i just think it doesn't make any sense. and it ignores, frankly, reality. >> a report in the "new york times" talks about six of the companies, christine, that are contracted to work on this pipeline. five of them are foreign companies and the sixth company really looks like they'll be expo exporting this oil anyway. >> we have a glut of gasoline or oil supplies in the middle of the country, in trying to get it down to the refineries along the gulf coast.

it's a big -- yes, some of that will be exported. some of that is also going to be just added to the supply of oil overall. one of the things here that is so interesting about, i guess, the hang-up for this administration, it's about nebraska. it's not about cushing, port arthur. the president needed more time to sort that out. and that is still not been sorted out. they have to figure out where that pipeline is going to go through there. after that is sorted out, i think this administration really wants this pipeline. they really do. >> wouldn't you agree this is mainly an export pipeline? these companies will be sending this to china and india. it will benefit foreign markets. it's going to benefit -- won't have long-term jobs and the american people are going to absorb the environmental risk. >> well, listen, let's understand one thing.

that is crude oil is a global product. and there are places where we can't get it because you don't have the infrastructure. it may be shipped in some place else from a global standpoint in order to get the product to the market for the best price for the consumer. that's what we need to understand. the bottom line is, it's in our best interest, in america, to be less dependent on foreign oil. the way you do that is that you go after the resources that we know we have. we have resources, for example, in alaska. we have resources in the outer continental shelf and potential resources in the inner mountain west. we should be developing that for american jobs, for american energy and, frankly, for national security issues in the long term. >> but isn't there a connection with american jobs -- when they ask the president of energy and pipelines of trans canada and

said would you support legislation that would say that the oil would be refined here in the united states and sold in the united states and he basically said, no, can't do that. >> listen, that's a decision for maybe one individual, but let's let the market work. there may be ways because of uncertainty elsewhere, where we build refineries here. let's remove those regulations that allow the people that would want to make the investment to do so. let the market work, in other words. we're dealing with a worldwide market. i might mention this, too. we keep forgetting the fact that the world market is controlled by -- largely by a cartel. at left a third of it, if not more, by a cartel. that disrupts, obviously, pricing in the long run, too. >> congressman, is there any relationship between this pipeline and gas prices right now? can you tell the american people that if we had this pipeline, if it went ahead that gas prices would be lower this year? >> no, i don't know. probably wouldn't happen in the near term unless you send a

certainty to the marketplace. in 1995, congress passed and sent to the president a bill to open anwar. that was in 1995. it was vetoed by president clinton. so, there were not the votes to override that veto. it takes seven to ten years to get production under dway. if we had started in 1995, we would have been maybe ten years into producing oil from anwar and there's 10 billion plus barrels in anwar. you have to send a signal to the markets that we are serious about utilizing the resources we have right here. that's what we need to do. i think the market, in the long run, frankly, would respond to that. >> congressman doc hastings joining us this morning. we appreciate you talking with us. >> thank you. thank you. >> still ahead on "starting point" remember the woman who was walking and -- let's run that again, just because i love this shot. she was walking and she ends up, because she's texting, she ends

up -- >> in the drink. >> -- in the fountain. >> so embarrassed. she cried. >> she was so embarrassed. she did. >> so let's show it again. that's right. let's play it on national tv. >> because she was okay, people. anyway, there's been another one we're going to tell you about. it's our "get real" up next. and it's a done deal. tim tebow is a new york jet. broadway joe -- >> real warm welcome. >> not giving that real warm welcome. not happy about it. we'll talk to another hall of famer, fran tarkentam. that's up next. [ leanne ] appliance park has been here since the early 50s.

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>> as i said, today we are celebrating the corporate contributions of fellow long islanders. the two of you -- >> there's not enough culture to fall into that.

billy joel. of all the billy joel -- >> i would have no participation in this show from a cultural perspective. >> uptown girl? captain jack, vienna. >> you know, i -- it's what i picked. pipe down. >> the first tv show in history that play billy joel and public enemy back to back. >> i'm not sure what that means. >> representing long island. >> three long islanders on the panel today and some man from texas at the other end. >> that's right. >> our "get real" this morning is so crazy. you would think by now we would all learn do not walk and text. there have been too many stories caught on tape. pleasant stroll on a pier became very scary for a woman who tripped and fell about six feet off the pier into lake michigan because she was walking and texting. here is what she said. >> i set an appointment for the wrong time. i sent about three words. next thing you know, it was the water. >> i feel really embarrassed. and i'm just so grateful to be alive.

i have a new lease on life. >> well, she was so embarrassed but said she wanted to make her story public because even though it was embarrassing for her, she felt it could help other people. it was really serious. she falls in. she has trouble staying afloat. her husband, greg, then has to jump in the water after her. then a bystander, who is 19, jumps in the water as well to help both of them. then their 15-year-old son runs to the ladder on the pier to try to get her on the ladder to get her up. firefighters show up. police show up. the coast guard shows up. and then they were able to throw down the flotation device, put her in it and bring her up the ladder. she says she really wants it to serve as a warning to other people. she said even though she was embarrassed she wasn't going to be so prideful not to teach other people a lesson. >> she was sinking and clutching her smart phone. >> let's not overlook this 19-year-old rebecca van zandt, who goes diving in. >> that's what i'm saying. she was a bystander. >> that's also the first

teenager embarrassed of their mother text iing too much. >> that's right. 15-year-old son. mom! i actually got hit by a segue when i was walking and texting. i got run over by a segue. that is embarrassing. >> first world problems. >> very true. i agree. heading to work, a reminder, you don't need to miss the rest of the show. you can head to cnn.com/start g cnn.com/startingpoint. fran tarkenton will join us, talking about tim tebow's trade to the jets. it becomes sometimes the really mean new york media versus mr. really, really nice. tyrese will join us next hour, new book, "new york times" best seller. will and i have been talking about this all morning. >> big baby boy fans. can't wait to talk about it. [ lane ] your anti-wrinkle cream is gone.

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>> this is huge news. it looks like tim tebow may be traded to the new york jets, you guys. but apparently some jets players are not happy about it. they are called wide receivers.

never going to see the ball. >> lots of people seem like they were happy in that audience. cheer when when heard that. i think the "post" poheadline i better. cute. clever. >> not according to the old testament, no. >> we have a hall of fame quarterback playing for the minnesota vikings and new york giants and is literally considered to be one of the best to play the game. also the chairman and founder of one more customer.com here to talk about the tim tebow trade. nice to see you. what did you think of this deal? you didn't think it would happen yesterday. what do you think? >> it's the craziest thing i ever heard. for tebow it's really a great thing. he takes the circus to new york. the greatest platform he can possibly have in the world. it's not going to help the jets

football team. the jets are dysfunctional as it is. can you imagine tim tebow in the locker room with rex ryan and his language and the whole deal. >> it just seems like it's going to be so interesting to watch how that's going to work. joe was outraged. do we have a sound bite for him? we have a quote. throw it on the screen so we can read it. he basically said i can't agree. i can't envision this working out. it's a publicity stunt. i can't go with it. it's wrong. i don't think they know what they're doing over there. do you think it's as simple as that that jets don't know what they're doing over there? >> joe is right. it makes no sense whatsoever. it would have been the last team i thought he would go to. i don't think anybody wanted him.

tebow had a chance between jacksonville and new york. for him to have that platform for what he wants to do during football and after football, it's great. i played in new york for five years. greatest sport city in the world. >> we appreciate that, sir. >> he'll have a great time there. new york will have fun with him. it will be a circus. out in denver, john elway is grinning and laughing and so is john fox, the coach. >> it's not just joe nanath pandering this team but other teammates. what's the locker room going to be like with players saying what's this about? i can't believe he's here. >> you have to have one quarterback in the national football league. they brought in a backup and now you bring in a third quarterback. if you have three quarterbacks, you have none. what that will do as soon as mark sanchez makes a bad play, everyone in new york city, let's have tebow because it's a

circus. for the football team, i think it's disastrous. i think it makes no sense whatsoever. you people in new york will have a lot of fun with this. >> i was going to say for the football team, what about for the city? everybody is contrasting. this is a tough city. maybe some new yorkers, some of them are mean. he's mr. nice. >> that's a falassie. they'll love tebow, aren't they? >> new york press is no worse than anywhere else. i didn't find them tough. i loved playing there. i thought new york press was great. the fan base is unbelievable. of course it's the greatest city in the world and tebow i think will be -- it will be great for him. it will just make tim tebow be even bigger than he is now and that's hard to do. he will be. he wants to go off for the rest of his life and this will build a platform for him.

a good decision for him over jacksonville. he'll have platform to do what he wants to do after football is over. >> sounds like a great decision for everybody but maybe not the jets. nice to have you. thanks for joining us this morning. >> he's incredible. >> my husband is so jealous that i get to talk to frank. it just kills him. we have to get to our tease. we'll get to breaking news out of france. a 30-hour standoff talking about this yesterday has ended and it ended in gun shots with suspected terrorist jumping to his death. we'll have the latest on that coming up. plus, outcry growing over the killing of 17-year-old trayvon martin. we'll talk to the organizer and leader of the 1 million hoodie marsh demanding answers in that shooting death. video of an apache chopper slamming down in landing. looks like a stunned gone wrong. here's ryan's playlist. metallica. you're watching "starting point." back in a moment. [ male announcer ] this is genco services --

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the standoff in france is over. we know how it went down. shooting and he went out a window. plus, the million hoodie march. people demanding justice for trayvon martin and the arrest of the man who shot and killed him. the message a black kid in a hoodie isn't automatically suspicious. we'll talk to a man who led that march. plus our warning that if schools don't shape up, it will put our national security at risk. and tyrese is with us live. live here. time warner center with me. he's talking about his new book. his love and his life and some of the unforgettable advice he

got from will smith that's led to a lot of his success. it's thursday, march 22nd. "starting point" begins right now. that's off tyrese's playlist. not bad. it's good. we like it. let's get to our panelists this morning. we have a washington correspondent for "the new yorker." john joins us. he's a political comedian whose question yesterday of a romney supporter. mccain spokesperson. >> communications director. i thought it made it a simple question. >> turned a simple question into a complex answer and then reframing the issue for the rest of the day for the romney campaign. and will is with us. columnist for blaze.com. our starting point is that breaking news we were talking about after an action packed

final hour that standoff in france is over. the suspected terrorist is dead. police stormed the apartment after more than 30 hours. that standoff started and ended in gun shots. and then the suspect leaped to his death out of a window according to authorities. here's a picture of him from a cnn affiliate. his name is mohammad merah. he was wanted in a shooting rampage. police say he told them that his only regret was not killing more people. fran townsend joins us live by phone. fran, fries to talk to you again. obviously the goal for this young man, he's 23 years old, was to capture him alive. that did not happen. he's dead. what can they learn from him without him being alive? >> soledad, the real lessons will be learned from the investigation that really is under way now since the standoff started.

it goes back to to his trip in afghanistan. first they'll look at his contacts inside france. they'll look at was he a part of a radical mosque. was there radical preacher involved. is there a pipeline inside france that lets these guys get to afghanistan and pakistan region to be radicalized or trained. at that afghanistan end, they'll want to know what was french forces contact with them? was he given instructions a s training and what kind? when he went back, did he maintain contact with anybody in the region? so there's a lot yet to be learned about just what was the path this individual took to become radicalized that sent him on this shooting spree. >> we're going to hear, we're told, from the french president sarkozy, expected to address the nation any minute there. it's 1:00 p.m. in france right

now. you have to expect that what he's going to talk about to some degree is this lone wolf scenario which must be absolutely terrifying not just in france but in this country as well. >> absolutely. we've seen -- we had the ft. hood shooter, single individual on a military base like this go on a shooting rampage and kill soldiers and so we suffered the same thing here. there have been hearings on capitol hill including our own representative steve king here in new york and so this is -- we understand, soledad, this is the most difficult kind of individual to identify. when they're not part of a larger group or obviously part of a larger group, it's very difficult to understand who it is and identify them before they act. >> fran townsend joining us by phone. thank you, fran. appreciate the update. first a country and now its community turning on police chief bill lee after trayvon martin was killed by a

neighborhood watchman. overnight after a rising tide of criticism, the sanford city commissioners voted 3-2 they had no confidence on lee who has been on that job less than a year. anger over the shooting is growing. yesterday afternoon in san ford, the naacp had a forum to complain about abuse by the sanford police and there was demands that shooter, george zimmerman, be put under arrest. here's trayvon martin's parents. >> we want new york to know that we're not going to stop until we get justice. >> our son was not committing any crimes. our son is your son. we want you guys to stand up for justice and for what's right. >> later today reverend al sharpton will lead a rally in sanford. the orlando suburb where martin was killed and a civil rights

investigation is under way at the department of justice. to large degree, you were responsible for sort of using social media through global grind.com, which is affiliated with russell simmons who is your because technically, to leverage all of the outrage that was happening nationally and internationally and focusing it on tangible events. tell me about that. >> what's incredible and aspiring about our generation is that we now have the ability to organize ourselves. we can go to twitter. we go to facebook and youtube and talk to each other. we want to talk about this issue now. we don't have to wait for traditional media to talk about it. we want to talk about it. we organize. we put trayvon martin's name out there and story out there. on monday morning we woke up and said let's march. let'ses have a rally. i wore my hoodie today in tribute to trayvon and thousands showed up yesterday in support of trayvon. amazing to see his mother and father there as well. >> you wrote on global

grind.com, i'll never look suspicious to you even if i have black hoodie, on. i will never look suspicious no matter how much the hoodie covers my face or how baggy my jeans are, i will never look out of place to you. you go on to say because i'm white. what do you want the message to be out of this march? >> i think, if i could speak directly to white people, the challenge is this. when joseph kony happened, all of my white friends were loud. my white friends were on twitter and talking about. >> warlord viral with 100 million hits. >> three weeks ago when trayvon martin was killed, 17-year-old child was killed in this country, they were quiet. the white community was quiet. i have a hoodie on today. i could go in the street in new york city and wave my hand and taxi cab will pick me up and go into a restaurant and no one will ask me to pay my bill before i eat just because i'm white. we had the exact same outfit on.

it wasn't what he wore, it's because he's black. are we going to be quiet or support trayvon? >> i think you're right. i think if gandhi had social media and iphone british would have left india three years sooner. there's plenty of caucasians who are outraged about this. >> i'm glad they signed up now. trayvon was killed three weeks ago. >> people didn't hear about it until last week. >> it's our responsibility to bring it out to them. as those who have that power, we are responsible with that power. i have followers on twitter. it's great to see the outpour now. it will happen again. a 17-year-old black child will get shot again in this country if we don't say something. >> roland martin is black. he's a friend of mine. he said why are white commentators silent on this issue? i said to roland, do you feel like there's a conclusion that should be forwarded right now.

for me in this case when i look at it, i need to see the whole story. this is an investigation that's not finished. there's evidence yet to come. i'm not sure, here i am. i'm white. i'm a commentator, what do you want me to say right now? >> let's put aside this actual case. what i want you to say is there is a problem in this country. it's an epidemic that young black men and latino men are being killed at a record rate. let's recognize the problem. there is a problem. if a kid can walk in the street with bag of skittles and ice teaed can, hoodie on and jeans and no matter what race you are, he looks suspicious? i don't look suspicious to you? >> i totally agree with you. every element we've seen in this case is condemning and shady toward george zimmerman. the slow rationale side of me says this is a legal case. shouldn't i be quiet until we know everything? i'm curious what he has to say.

am i making a wrong choice by saying -- >> this country is built on innocent until proven guilty. in terms of our responsibility of the racial profiling, we know he profiled him because we heard the 911 tapes. he says he looks suspicious. that we know. >> your beef with is george zimmerman specifically. >> with me, my suspicions, my stereotypes. i don't have a beef with george zimmerman. >> what he might represent -- >> i have those suspicions. you have those. let's have an honest conversation about it. >> anderson spoke to a friend of george zimmerman's who said this. >> george is not a racist. he was just performing his duties as watch captain whether it be african-american, latino, asian or white. he would have done the same thing. >> he may not be a racist but he was not performing his duties and never identified himself as

a neighborhood watchman. he was advised to not pursue. he wasn't doing his duties. will, wouldn't you at least agree had this been an african-american teenager shooting an unarmed caucasian, they would have at least brought the african-american shooter to the police station for questioning in florida? >> this investigation by no beans, john, and do not attempt to and i'm not assuming you are, distort my opinion to saying that everything is smooth here and everything is cope settic and this investigation has gone perfectly. what i wanted to know and i was interested in michael's opinion, is there an accusation that people like me who might be silent are doing something wrong when i'm simply saying, man, there's some gaps in this entire thing and i need them filled. >> as the only black personal on the panel, i'm going to weigh in for one moment. i think you make great point. i don't think commentators have to say this is my position. i'll weigh in and say he's guilty because this is done and i don't care what courts say which won't happen for a year any way. there's an opportunity to raise questions and an opportunity to

bring different voices to say here's what we know. here's what we are hearing. let's bring a conversation much to what we are doing right now because then you start having a conversation and people weigh in. sometimes it's unpleasant people on twitter as this blows up to large degree. the conversation does become very nasty whenever people start talking about race. i have a little bit of experience in this. it gets really ugly really fast. >> i think what's interesting about my generation is that in spirit of president obama, we saw the potential to have a post-racial society. it's aspirational. we know it's not reality. >> totally disagree with you. >> we want to get there. we want to get there. we want to look beyond race. we want to look beyond racially profiling someone as a generation and be in a country where race is not the issue. in this case, race is the issue. >> that's true. we have to go to commercial break. michael, thanks for talking to us. any time you want to come back and have conversations with us, we would love it. let's get to christine for a look at the headlines for us. >> good morning. the lawyer representing army

staff sergeant robert bales says he expects homicide charges to be filed against his client tomorrow. bales is suspected of killing 16 afghan civilians in a door to door shooting spree near his army base in afghanistan. after a meeting yesterday with secretary of state hillary clinton, afghanistan's foreign minister is calling on the u.s. to conduct a swift and transparent investigation. minding your business, aaa says the new national average for a gallon of regular gas, 3.88. that's 13 days in a row of gas prices rising. high gas prices are here to say through the summer up 18% this year. that means fill up today if you can. a look at the markets. u.s. stock futures lower suggesting a weak opening for u.s. stocks. world markets are down after a report from china showed its factories slowing. investors are tapping on the brakes in the stock market. it's not a surprise here. s&p 500 up 11% this year. great for your 401(k) but remember those gas prices i just mentioned, they are bad for your

budget. president obama taking his energy plan on the road today. perhaps with an eye to those higher gas prices. first stop is cushing, oklahoma. he's touting an energy strategy that republicans have been blasting. >> we've approved dozens of new oil and gas pipelines and we've announced our support for more. we're drilling all over the place. that's one of the reasons we've been able to reduce our dependence on foreign oil every year since i took office. >> in january the president rejected the full 1,600 mile $7.7 billion pipeline from canada's tar sands to the gulf of mexico saying he needed more time to evaluate that project. nebraskans are concerned about where it passes through important environmental territory there. video just posted online of a heart stopping chopper crash in afghanistan. you got to see this.

the chopper hits the ground hard. amazingly no one order. coalition told abc news it happened on february 6th. it's not clear whether it was maneuver or a pilot showing off. the military is investigating. >> that's crazy. it goes back up again after that belly flop. >> lucky no one was hurt. >> thank you very much. ahead on "starting point" this morning, rick santorum's math problem. is it even possible for him to win the nomination at this point? christine will join us with number crunching just ahead. > failing kids and the country. bad schools are threatening the national security. michelle rhee will join us. you're watching "starting point." we're celebrating long island today. ♪

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>> 20 minutes into this half hour. these guys are having their own conversation over there. it's all about expanding our boundaries. we're talking about the race to 1,144. the magic number. mitt romney is racking up the delegates but rick santorum is vowing to stay in the race. christine has been crunching the numbers this morning to figure out if it's even possible for senator santorum to win the nomination at this point. this is cnn math i should point out. other people can get to different numbers different ways. this is our math. walk us through what you have. >> i guarantee you all of the campaigns are going through this math as well as they can looking at every possible scenario. here mitt romney and where he is in the race to 1,144. almost halfway there. rick santorum 249. next up on the calendar is louisiana right here in just a couple days. it looks like based on our

polling that will go to rick santorum. that's where that is here. let's look on throughout the summer as things keep going. let's move into april. you can see here we have maryland, wisconsin, district of columbia. those look like those are solidly romney territory. hypothetical based upon our polling. as we go through the spring and summer, you can see what happens here on the delegate map. he creeps up even as santorum is gaining in some states like texas. you can see that it is still mitt romney who is moving up. let's go all of the way out to august 30th. hypothetical based on our latest polling. if you gave 60% of the delegates to winner of those states, where would he be? rick santorum would be a third of that distance. what if you say, let's say that maybe over here in indiana assign that one to santorum. maybe give him california.

no one is predicting that would happen. where would you be? maybe he could deny mitt romney his 1,144. maybe. rick santorum still only about halfway there. >> we've had this conversation -- i'll throw it to will now. the question becomes does rick santorum's campaign really focus on trying to get the number 1 4 1,144 or the spoiler roll? >> even the role of the spoiler is difficult to fulfill. he has to win california. unbiassed opinion usually. i don't see a path for him to be the spoiler. >> there are 23 states left. santorum can win enough. delegate allocation is difficult. he can make it difficult for

romney to secure this. it's possible. he'll do well with the evangelical vote. even if he doesn't though, we're looking at an extremely weak republican nominee. he's going to hurt. he's going to hurt romney. romney is going to win this race winning fewer states than any republican nominee since gerald ford in 1976. he's going to win fewer than mccain won who won 31. >> the big question becomes and what does that mean for november? if he is the nominee, ultimate question becomes how does this primary battle really affect his chances going into a general election? what does polling show on that? >> truth of the matter is i don't think that the religious base of the republican party that is keeping santorum in this race denying support for romney, i don't think they have any place to go in the fall and i think the electorate will

polarize and it will be a close race and those folks will come out for romney. >> curious thing has happened of course with the conversation that we were having yesterday where basically the comeback to the etch a sketch flak was that governor romney will not change his position. they were talking about reframing a campaign they said in their clarification but now they have committed to not moving. >> he was right about what they have to do. the etch a sketch has to be erased. he's appealing to a republican electorate. the center of gravity in the primary is different than general election. >> let me throw the last question back to christine. if you are the santorum campaign what do you do now to say this is where we need to put resources or most of our resources? >> every single one of them. every single one of them. you try to turn conventional wisdom on its head in places like california which are thought to be solidly mitt romney territory. look, this is a campaign that says it's moving along.

it's going to keep going. they are getting more out of every dollar that they get than the mitt romney campaign. when you look at the delicate math and go all of the way out, it's pretty clear that mitt romney is the one when you look at the polling who has a much clearer advantage on the delegates. that math is something that every campaign i'm sure has gone over every single possible scenario and this is what you get. >> i'm going to guess we'll keep talking about it. >> put $5 on that will cain. we're going to take a short break. we're back after this. ahead this morning, tyrese joins us. we'll talk about his new book, album and politics. stay with us. turn left.

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>> still ahead this morning on startsing point, fallout from the planned parenthood controversy. why pressure is mounting for the founder of the nation's largest cancer charity to step down. plus, a new report that our failing schools are causing a threat to national security. we're going to talk to former d.c. chancellor michelle rhee who says it's more proof kids won't able to compete in the future. this is adele. "starting point" is back after this. 14 clubs. that's what they tell us a legal golf bag can hold. and while that leaves a little room for balls and tees, it doesn't leave room for much else. there's no room left for deadlines or conference calls. not a single pocket to hold the stress of the day,

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good morning. welcome back, everybody. we're following breaking news out of france this morning with a standoff between the police and a suspected terrorist is now over. that man is dead. police stormed his apartment after more than 30 hours and it ended with the suspect leaping to his death out of a window. according to authorities. this picture comes to us of him

from a cnn affiliate. the suspect's name is mohammad marah. diana magnay is live in toulouse, france, this morning. diana, good morning. >> reporter: hi, sol dad. it was very dramatic a couple of hours ago. we've been waiting for this siege to end for more than 30 hours. 32 hours i think it is now. and then suddenly earlier this morning, a couple hours ago, two minutes of sustained gun fire. we, the press, have been kept, you know, fairly far away from the actual site. we could hear it but couldn't see it. we found out from the interior minister what had gone on. the elite raid unit had gone in and blown open the door. gone in through a window. they got some sort of video

surveillance equipment that they have been using to try and find out where he was prior to going in. they couldn't see him anywhere. they thought only place he could be was in the bathroom. he came out of the bathroom shooting extremely violently. the guy who led the operation who is a specialist in this kind of thing says he had never seen such a violent reaction. and then mohammad merah, this 24-year-old al qaeda self-declared al qaeda affiliate jumped out of a window and was dead when the police got to him, soledad. amazingly dramatic turn of events bringing this siege to an end. >> we've had chance to watch as it was unfolding. diana magnay in toulouse. thank you for that update. let's get to christine. >> this just in. 348,000 unemployment claims were filed for the first time last week. that's a four-year low below that key 400,000 mark. it's a sign the labor market is healing headed in the right direction there.

police say they believe a body found in north dakota could be a missing montana math teacher. she disappeared in january during a morning run. police are not saying how her body may have ended up 50 miles away. the remains are being sent to a medical lab for positive identification. two colorado men have been charged with ig vat eaggravated kidnapping in that case. >> nancy brinker came under fire this year when komen decided to eliminate most of its financing to planned parenthood for brest ca cancer education and screening. several reports say brinker is facing mounting pressure within the group to resign her position. a u.s. marine could be discharged for criticizing the president and starting an armed

forces facebook page. he declared a few weeks ago he wouldn't follow the unlawful orders of his commander in chief. stein has been assigned to a desk job with no access to computers while military officials consider whether to give him the boot. >> all right. thank you very much for that update. here's a wake-up call for the nation. the short kcomings in america's education system could affect national security. it's drawn a number of connections between schools and our safety. michelle rhee is the former chancellor of the d.c. public school system. she's the ceo and founder of students first. nice to have you. thanks for talking with us. connect the dots for me. how exactly does how a school or schools in general across the nation faring connected to our national security? >> when you think about it, in order to have a robust superpower in america, we need to have engineers and scientists

and advanced military personnel. those people have to have certain math skills and science skills and foreign language skills. if we are not preparing our children well in our schools making sure they have that level of skills and knowledge, then we're going to be really in trouble in the long run in terms of national security. >> one thing i thought was scary in this report focusing on the american dream, they describe it sort of like withering on the vine and highlighting a growing gap between educated and undereducated. do you agree with their premise? >> the data are very startling on this issue. i think most americans don't understand the fact that now in this nation we have one of the lowest levels of social mobility of any developed nation in the entire world. meaning if you were a child born into poverty in this country,

the likelihood that you will ever be able to get out of poverty is very low. that goes against everything that we stand for as a nation. this country was founded on the ideals that this is the land of equal opportunity. if you're a kid who grows up in america doesn't matter where you come from, you have the opportunity to succeed and achieve the american dream and that's not reality anymore. >> i want to skip to recommendations of the council. they have sort of their three-point recommendations. they say this. include skill sets that are critical to national security. provide students with more school choices and establish a national security readiness audit. of those three, which do you think is the most important? which would you recommend? >> well, i think all three of them are incredibly important. the first is important because we have to have a set of national standards that are international lly benchmarked s we know where our american children stand at all times compared to kids in china,

japan, india, et cetera. the second is also incredibly important as we discuss before as it pertains to social mobility. we have to ensure that every single child in this nation has access to an excellent education regardless of the neighborhood that they live in and the income level of their parents. we can no longer allow families to feel like they are trapped in failing schools and last every governor should very well know whether or not the children in their state are being prepared to the levels that we need them to and if not, they need to take specific actions on that. >> every few years a big report comes out that basically says if we don't step in now, if we don't intervene now, it's going to hell in hand basket. this is another report saying that same thing. this is really, really important. now we are connecting it to national security. it's vitally important for everyone. what has to happen before people realize that focusing on education is a priority for the nation and really fixing it?

>> you know, unfortunately i don't have the answer to that. you are absolutely right. decades ago we had a nation at risk, which said many of the same things that this report says. and, you know, for many decades in this country, we have believed that the problems in education have been a social issue and it's very clear now that our educational systems issues are not a social problem but they are an economic problem and now they are a national security problem. and so really this report ought to serve as a wake-up call to the country. everyone needs to understand this is not just an issue that affects parents with school aged children. this issue affects every single american out there whether you are a business owner, whether you are in the military, whether you have no children and you are living on social security. everyone has a stake in this matter and if we do not fix our public education system now, we will not be able to maintain our

place in the global economy. >> michelle rhee is the ceo and founder of students first. she used to be the chancellor of the d.c. public school system. nice to have you. thanks for talking with us. we appreciate it. >> thanks. ahead on "starting point," tyrese joining us. he's going to talk with us about his book now out in paperback. it's a bestseller. he'll talk about his new album and sold a zillion copies but we want to talk to him about politics. he's pushing hard to have his fellow celebrities have a difference when it comes to voting. first, eddie money. long islander. cultural center of america. "take me home tonight." [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now.

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♪ >> the dixie chicks. long island girls. no. we make them honorary long island girls. >> went to high school with my wife. >> are you allowed to recommend the dixie chicks? >> everyone wants to pigeon hole me, ryan. >> i want to talk about this exchange that happened on our air yesterday. congratulating the romney campaign on their big win but it changed the story line of the day and it was, john, your question. reframe the question that you asked. >> well, you know, we've been

talking about the rough campaign that governor romney ran against john mccain. >> in 2008. >> i said that governor romney faced a more moderate contender in mccain than two guys he's up against now. given the pressure he's getting from santorum and gingrich, isn't there a strong fear that it will make romney go to the right he would have a difficult time reaching moderate voters in the general election. i thought it was a basic question for a communication director. >> you put that question to eric fehm fehmstrom. >> it's like an etch-a-sketch. we start all over again. >> that changed how the conversation would go. later he reclarified his comments. put up the screen of what eric would say. he said he was talking about the race as we move from primary to

general election. the campaign changes. different race with different candidates and a focus on different issues is what he said. ryan lizza, let's talk about impact of this. >> he contradicted romney with the second statement. >> let's play what the governor said. here it is. >> it was an unusual day on the campaign trail. mitt romney and his campaign wanted to talk about his victory in the illinois primary but debate over this iconic children's toy, the etc etch-a-sketch. >> the press is following him around. look, i'm going to run on the same issues in the general election that i'm running on here in the primaries. a little bit different than what eric said in cleaning up the quote. the real etch-a-sketch is what's being erased is mitt romney's original idea of running on the terrible economy.

we have better economic news this morning. and that i think in the long run will be the big problem for his campaign is his original message is disappearing as this economy improves he's having a tougher time making the case against obama. >> why do you think this keeps happening? every time the romney campaign should do a victory lap and a big win, a nice easy great win to be gloating about, there's something that undermines it. >> well, this stole the thunder away from jeb bush's extremely tepid endorsement, which he didn't do in person. i think it comes right back to lack of enthusiasm and lack of trust of the governor among social conservatives in the gop base. >> we have to take break. when we come back, we'll chat to ti tyrese about his book, his album and politics. stay with us. gy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - by monitoring air quality and reducing emissions... ...protect water - through conservation

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♪ >> how come we're not showing the video of this? i want to see the video of tyrese singing. nice to have you here. >> you got the real guy in front of you and you want the video? >> the video is also very, very

cute. tyrese is a multiplatinum grammy nominated singer, songwriter, former model appearing in "fast five" and bestselling author. this is a list of amazing things you've done. "get out of your own way" is a bestseller "the new york times." that's a lot of great things happening to you. i want to talk first about your childhood. you write in the book a lot about self-love and self-hate. what do you mean? >> well, i just think us as adults, you know, whoever we become as adults is a direct reflection of our childhood and many different images that we were exposed to. what is your interpretation of love? it's likely based on the images of love that you were exposed to. you grow up as a woman you tend to gravitate toward men that remind you of your father. that can be a good thing or a bad thing. and same with us men.

if you grow up in a house with trauma, dysfunction issues, some type of drug abuse, you want to gravitate toward those type of women. >> will smith was a big mentor of yours. he gave you great advice that would shape your life. what did he tell you? >> one of the things that really jumped out was you can often tell how far your life and career will go based on the five people you spend the most time with. and so i added to that. >> like these guys. >> you're in trouble. >> that's three of them. >> added to that and said who you are becomes a direct reflection of your environment and the people that surround you. if you're out of shape, likely the people around you allow you to eat that way and treat your body that way and careerwise and relationshipwise and all of the above. it really impacted my life in a major way. >> of all of the things you've done, you have this album. you have a book.

what's been the most important thing you think you have focused on? what are you proud of to pick one thing? >> to be honest i think a lot of celebrities whether they are considered a list, b, c, we all come with an audience. the question is what are you doing with your fan base and your audience? what now thoughts, views and percenti perspective are you putting on their minds? through twitter and other things, i've been just kind of using my stage and platform to put thoughts and feelings and perspectives and views that may not have been on people's minds unless they were following me specifically. >> what's been the thing that's really been frustrating? you weighed in on trayvon martin. we had great conversation earlier about race and black men and sort of the interpretation of -- >> i think what we're experiencing with this trayvon situation and i'm just really happy the amount of attention

it's getting and disappointed at the same time because it's not getting nearly as much of attention as it should be getting. i will say to his family and friends that his death was not in vain. this is a mess that's turned into a message. and there's a lot of people out here that know in the streets and ghettos around the country that these trayvons exist every day. trayvons happened last night, last week, last year. >> what's different about this one? that's true. what makes this become a message? >> because of the fact that this guy didn't even go to the police station. there is no active investigation that's going on. i just believe if a black man had taken the life of a white child, then it would be a whole other situation. i'm not the guy that's caught up in racism. that's not my angle. i will say that there are stereotypes and there are certain expectations that happen in this country pertaining to the loss of a life and we are

just not seeing that type of attention happen toward mr. zimmerman. that's why everybody is outraged. >> we'll ask you to stick around through end point coming up next which is the final message for the show. if you'll do that we would appreciate it. we have to take a commercial break. we're back in just a moment. is all we humans get. we spend them on treadmills. we spend them in traffic. and if we get lucky, really lucky, it dawns on us to go spend them in a world where a simple sunrise can still be magic. twenty-five thousand mornings. make sure some of them are pure michigan. your trip begins at michigan.org. but if i grow this out a little bit, i look too much like an english country gent... naaah. a little this way and i feel like i'm from outer space. this and i feel like a viking... [ roars ] not my style, man.

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time for our end point. we asked tyrese to stick around. your final message of the morning is what? >> i want to address the loss of trayvon's life was not in vain. i just believe that. even though we're dealing with the thick of what just happened and the injustice that's taken place, there was a little girl in 1980 who was ran over by a drunk driver. her mother, candice, through her rage and outcry for help and justice organized m.a.d.d., mothers against drunk drivers. with all of the laws that are now in place around the country

because of this organization, millions of lives of little kids have been saved because they really have stepped the laws up pertaining to people in drunk driving. >> i love that reminder. change really can come. in the final minute plus? end point? john, you start. >> i take no responsibility for any horrible etch-a-sketch puns made by the campaign. if i was doing a toy metaphor with mitt romney, i would have gone with transformers. >> don't listen to pundits. two days ago everyone told us the race was over. romney had it wrapped up and this establishment was backing him. because of soledad and you yesterday the story changed and will change ten times before the race is over again. >> wound up with the same conclusion. you asked michelle rhee what was the answer to